There are many financial documents and multiple part business forms that are desirably printed on MCP (carbonless) paper. That has not been practical for many financial documents in the past since it is necessary for MICR (magnetic ink code readable) characters to be printed on internal sheets of the form. If the MICR characters are printed on CF, CB, or self-imaging sheets, they will smear when subsequently being processed, thereby resulting in inaccuracies in reading the numbers, and thus making the forms useless. It is because of this problem that conventional multi-part financial document business forms requiring MICR characters utilize carbon interleaving, despite the advantages of MCP over carbon interleaving.
According to the invention a method and product are provided which overcome the problems associated with smearing of MICR characters on MCP paper, allowing MCP paper to be used for multiple part financial documents requiring MICR characters. Also, the invention provides a simple method and a product that are utilizable in multiple part business forms to allow confidential information to be printed on some parts of the form, but not selected other parts of the form, thereby enhancing the versatility of multi-part forms.
The basic feature of the present invention is the application of a blocking fluent material to selected portion of a CF, CB, or self-imaging substrate. The blocking fluent material has the effect of masking the substrate so as to deactivate the image transferring capacity of the CF, CB, or self-imaging material of the substrate. Preferably the fluent material is an ultraviolet radiation curable white ink. The ink is preferably applied to a moving web of substrate material, and is then passed through a UV dryer on a continuous basis so that business forms can be produced according to the invention at high speed. After curing the ink, the substrate may be printed with MICR characters, such as with an Autographics transfer ribbon on a collator, directly over the dried/cured ink. The characters so printed will not smear during subsequent handling, and can be effectively read by MICR equipment. Also, the ink may be applied to intermediate sheets of a business form at portions thereof where it is not desirable for confidential information to be imaged, so that a security feature is also provided.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of treating a CF, CB, or self-imaging substrate is provided comprising the steps of: (a) Applying a blocking fluent material to only a selected portion of a moving CF, CB, or self-imaging substrate. And, (b) drying or curing the blocking fluent material so that the image transferring capacity of the selected portion of the substrate is deactivated so that it no longer functions as a CF, CB, or self-imaging element. Preferably the substrate moves in a first direction during the practice of both steps (a) and (b), and step (a) is practiced by applying the fluent material as a continuous strip extending in the first direction. Preferably there is also the further step of printing MICR characters on a part of the continuous strip, and preferably step (a) is practiced by applying a UV curable white ink as the blocking fluent material, and step (b) is practiced by moving the substrate past a UV radiation source, and applying UV radiation to the UV curable ink.
The method may also comprise the further alternate steps of forming the substrate into CF, self-imaging, or CB sheets, and assembling those sheets with other CF, CB, and/or self-imaging sheets to form a business form with the selected portion of the substrate being positioned within the business form so that confidential information applied to the business form in an area overlying the blocking material will not be transferred to a sheet cooperating with the blocking material.
According to another aspect of the present invention a business form is provided which comprises: At least first and second sheets, at least one of the sheets being a self-imaging sheet, or a CF sheet while another is a CB sheet. And, a blocking material disposed on only a selected portion of at least one of the self-imaging or the CB and CF sheets, the blocking material rendering the selected portion incapable of functioning as a self-imaging, CF, or CB element.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there also may be provided a financial instrument comprising: At least one CF sheet and one CB sheet, or at least one self-imaging sheet. MICR characters disposed on a selected portion of the CF sheet, or the self-imaging sheet. And, means preventing smearing of the MICR characters when fed through automatic equipment for acting on the CF or self-imaging sheet.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide for the high speed production of business forms of MCP paper that can have MICR characters printed therein, and which can have security features. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.